WEATHERSFIELD Officials quiet about line woes

MINERAL RIDGE -- Weathersfield Township trustees are now saying "mum" is the word on the problems the township has had over the last 19 months trying to get a new radio system to work.
Phone lines send signals to radios to let firefighters know that they are needed, but the phone lines have been tested and are not considered reliable enough to be used. The department is still using the old system.
The phone lines were installed by SBC.
Resident Jim Sweeney was critical of trustees for having paid fees estimated at between $27,000 and $30,000 in monthly charges for the line service for the fire department.
But trustee chairman Fred Bobovnyk cut short any further discussion of the issue because trustees are now reviewing the matter with legal counsel.
Trustees had filed a complaint with the Public Utilities Commission on the matter in November 2004.
Other matters
In other business, trustees said they received a letter from county officials agreeing with a decision by Trumbull County Engineer John Latell that West Liberty Street can handle the load limits of truck traffic on the street.
Residents have been attempting for months again to have truck traffic stopped on the street.
Trustees said the letter referred to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to allow truckers to go about their business, and said it would be illegal to post no truck traffic signs on the street.
While trustees as a body have opted not to respond to the letter, Trustee John Vogel said he has sent his own letter objecting to the decision, and arguing that the 14th Amendment, in his research, pertains to the United States' ability to wage war.
After residents' discussion at the meeting, Bobovnyk read a chronology of what the trustees and township have tried to do on West Liberty Street since 1998, and ended by telling residents that since they took the oath of office, trustees cannot intiate a lawsuit over the matter, adding: "But if residents wish to, they can."
Trustees also:
UIncreased charges for nonresident burial in township cemeteries, effective June 1. The change will be a $50 increase in the following: one grave over 6 years of age, to $500; one grave one year to six years, $300; one grave, infant to one year, $200; cremation, $150; Saturday, an extra $150. Nonresidents using graves of a township resident will pay a surcharge increased from $150 to $200.
UAuthorized the demolition of a house at 152 Welsh Hill Road, at a cost not to exceed $4,000.